The Voice Inside your Head

Symptoms
Kathy is frustrated after a recent sales call. She believes if she was brave enough to ask about certain things, the call would have gone her way. It seems like she is constantly on defense and that the client is intentionally “pushing her buttons”. Despite her training, it felt like she was always reacting to every little thing that was said rather than thinking about what was really going on. How can she find a way to consistently act like a professional on the call?

Diagnosis
Amateur sales people tend to get "emotionally" involved by reacting to what buyers say during an interview. The emotions range from despair ("I'm losing this"), to anger ("I hate sales") to excitement ("I own this guy"). Amateurs are too emotionally involved to function as a professional. They are frozen with emotion and miss opportunities to either turn a call around or close a deal.

Prescription
Act like a professional at each interview. What inner dialogue goes through a professional's head during each interview? Let's go inside for a look, shall we?

• "Nothing bad can happen during a conversation about business." - Charlie Hauck
• "Things are never as good or bad as they seem at that moment" - General Custer
• "It's not over, till the fat lady sings" - Yogi Berra
• "I will survive" - Gloria Gaynor (Disco Reference!)
• "No is as bad as it gets"! - Donald Trump
• "You miss 100% of the shots you never take" - Wayne Gretzky
• "You can't control others, only your response" - Johnnie Cochren
• "King Kong ain't got nothing on me" - Denzel Washington in Training Day
• "I believe I will win," - Ken Jennings (Jeopardy champ!)
• "What is the next step in my process?" - Professional with a sales process
  

Critical Thinking Question - optional

• What are the top 2 emotions that you frequently experience during sales calls gone good or bad?
• How do you recognize them and what are you going to do to keep them from standing in your way?
  

Managers Message
Have consistent meetings with individuals reps to debrief a variety of past sales calls. During the debrief let the facts get in the way of a good emotional story. Help reps discover if they can control their fears and excitement so they will make the right decisions more often.

The Drill:

• Can you list 3 accomplishments from last week that really made a difference in your work?
• What are the Top 3 decisions you plan to collect or make this week?